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Natural disasters caused by hurricanes
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Recommended: Natural disasters caused by hurricanes
Hurricanes are the deadliest natural storm that occurs in this world, but following right behind it is the treacherous earthquake. Taking thousands of lives a year. Hurricanes are known for deadly winds and waters. Washing thousands of homes and businesses away every times it touches down on land. As for the earthquake it has literally reshaped the earth with its vicious shakes and rumbles.
Hurricanes can reach winds up to 160 mph and can give off more than 2.4 trillion gallons of rain a day. Hurricanes are Large storms with rotating winds. They form over the warm bodies of water and oceans, when the water and the clouds temperatures are very different.(one being hot and one being cold). When hot and cold air hit one another they push. The
At one point in its lifetime, Hugo reached Category Five intensity with 160 mph winds, and a minimum central pressure of 27.11 inches of Hg. Rapidly intensifying over the Gulf Stream, it came ashore in South Carolina with 135 mph winds. This storm ranks currently second all time in terms of estimated damage at $7 billion dollars. Hurricane Ivan A Cape Verde storm that formed at a very unusual low latitude, Ivan viciously developed into a Category Four Hurricane during the Labor Day Weekend of 2004 before briefly dropping to a Category Two for a period. However, as it moved through the extreme Southern Windward Islands of Barbados and Grenada, the storm strengthened back to major hurricane status, and left it mark taking 75 to 90 percent of all buildings on the island of Grenada. The storm continued to strengthen, and reach Category Five status. It was the second Category Five storm in as many years after almost a five year drought following Mitch in October, 1998. It would eventually drop somewhat, but it still made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a strong Category Three Hurricane with 130 mph winds. Moving farther inland, Ivan's remains sparked torrential rains, flooding, and 123 tornadoes, which is second to Hurricane Beulah's 150 in 1967. Ivan was responsible for some 124 deaths throughout the Caribbean and the Eastern United States. Final damage estimate from not only the U.S., but also the Caribbean totals $14.2 billion
The development of the storm was initiated by an apparent tropical wave that had given way of the African Coast around August 5th. The cloud pattern of the storm slightly resembled that of an inverted “V” began traveling westward, then northward, across the Atlantic Ocean and was recognized as a tropical disturbance 4 days later, August 9th. The following 5 days or so the storm continued to travel showing no sign of circulation. On August 14th the United States Air Force sent a reconnaissance aircraft into the storm for surveillance, with a growing concern. What was about to be Tropical storm Camille was still south of Cuba with expectation to become much more potent. At the point of infiltration by the aircraft the planes barometer revealed a 999 millibar pressure center with 55 mile an hour surface winds. At this point the disturbance was inaugurated to be a “tropical storm.” As the intensification process ensued, and the squall shifted northwestward at a slow speed of 9 miles per hour, but gained a great amount of force in...
In 1992, hurricane Andrew was a category four hurricane and said to be one of the worst natural disasters to happen in the United States at the time. It’s winds surpassed 160 miles per hour and caused damage to over 125,000 homes within 400 square miles. Hurricane Andrew left approximately 175,000 families and children temporarily homeless.
On August 24th, 1992 in the state of Florida, complete destruction was the end result of Hurricane Andrew. A Hurricane that began in the Atlantic ocean at 20mph. That is almost twice the strength that normal hurricanes begin at. The peak strength of Hurricane Andrew was so strong that devices were not able to measure the winds. An approximation of the force of the winds was said to be up to 200mph. Andrew destroyed about 28,000 homes, damaged 100,000 homes and left 250,000 people homeless along with 30 billion dollars in damage and almost 30 deaths. Hurricane Andrew did not end its devastation in Florida, soon it went to Louisiana causing more damage. (Fig.1)
Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow
Through the path of history, there have been several major events that influenced thousands of lives and were significant in forming the world today. One of the largest and deadliest events that occurred in history was a disaster not anybody could control or be held accountable for. This was Hurricane Katrina. On the early Monday morning of August 29th, 2005, a Category 5 rating Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States with winds up to 175 miles per hour and a storm surge of 20 feet high. Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest and most destructive natural disasters recorded to make landfall in the United States. The natural causes of the hurricane, poorly structured levees, disaster inside the Superdome, and the
On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ...
Hurricanes are formed over tropical waters. These intense storms consist of winds over 74 miles per hour (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011). The storms addressed here are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. This paper will explore the contrasts and comparisons between these two horrific storms.
For nearly ten years, Miami has not seen hurricane landfall. This fact may be troubling to those who are inclined to believe, whether through superstition or scientific knowledge, that one is bound to occur anytime now It may be pleasing news for those who have not had to suffer the destruction of these weather-beasts in ten years. Nostalgia, however, is my overwhelming reaction to the topic of hurricanes. I am taken back to candle-lit evenings tinged a mixture two parts electric fear one part mystic coziness.
Hurricane Maria was destructive and caused a large amount of damage to the entire island of Puerto Rico. Maria hit on September 20 and was a category four hurricane, nearly a category five. Hurricane Maria has had a tremendous impact on the lives of Puerto Ricans and even the world.
A hurricane is easily the most powerful storm that mother nature can throw at us. Every year, people who live on the coasts fight hurricanes with no dismay. A hurricane is simply too strong. Their winds reach speeds of 75 mph. Winds around the eye wall can reach 130 to 150 mph.
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
These same tropical storms are known as cyclones in the northern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and as typhoons in the western Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean’s hurricane season points from mid-August to late October and averages five to six hurricanes each year. Hurricanes begin as tropical disturbances in warm ocean waters with temperatures of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. These low pressure systems are served by energy from the warm seas. If a storm reaches wind speeds of 38 miles an hour, it is known as a tropical depression. A tropical depression becomes a tropical storm, and is given a name, when its sustained wind speeds top 39 miles an hour. When a storm’s sustained wind speeds reach 74 miles an hour it becomes a hurricane and earns a category rating of 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Hurricanes are enormous heat engines that generate energy on a staggering scale. They draw heat from warm, moist ocean air and release it through condensation of water vapor in thunderstorms. A current hurricane that occurred was Big Sandy. FEMA became involved with the issue when the hurricane hit Rockaway, New York. President Obama declared a major disaster on October 30, 2012. According to what President Obama said, “We're going to have a lot of work to do. I don't want anybody to feel that somehow this is all going to get cleaned up overnight. We want to make sure that people have realistic expectations. You know, we go through tough times, but we bounce back. And the reason we bounce back is because we look out for one another and we don't leave anybody behind. And so my commitment to the people on this block, the people in this community, and the people of this state is that that same spirit will carry over all the way through until our work is done. In this country, we look out for one another.
In the hurricane the mixture of the water and winds can be extremely damaging. The winds are extremely dangerous and usually don’t go faster than about 75 miles per hour but have been documented to go as fast as 85 miles per hour. Due to the fact that hurricanes need water to survive they cannot go too far on land, but that does not stop them from causing billions of dollars in damages. Hurricanes are so dangerous that they were listed number 1 on the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Hazard and Disasters list.
Hurricanes are powerful atmospheric vortices that are intermediate in size. Hurricanes are unique and powerful weather systems. The word “hurricane” comes from a Caribbean word meaning “big wind”. Views of hurricanes can be seen from a satellite positioned thousands of miles above the earth.
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.